Our Story

Where it All Began

Back in the early ages, before there was Air and Lycra, there was plain old running. It was in the year of our lord one thousand nine hundred seventy-six that the Aggie Running Club was placed upon the state of California. Roots trace the club to four souls from UC Davis and three others who banded together at Lake Tahoe for a stab at the 72 mile relay around the mile high lake. Some say it was the altitude, others say it was the beer, but the result was as clear as the lake is cold, the Aggie Embryo was unleashed. The 7 who started it all were Ed Schelgle, Pete Sweeney, Mike Sweeney, Angel Martinez (all of UC Davis), Bill Hunsaker (U.C. Irvine), Hal Schulz (Redwood H.S.), Mike Killen (Humboldt St.).

During the early stages up on to the present, Dwayne "Peanut" Harms has been a bubbling spring of Aggie consciousness. Other luminaries in the club include the Mighty Killeen family, the brothers Sweeney, and Paleo Ags Jim VanDine and Angel Martinez. Dudes like Joe "Justin Tyme" Fabris, Terence "OneManDown" Boynton, Stacy "Stick" Geiken, Melissa "Tequilla Queen" Martel and Dave "Papillion" Frank have maintained the club infrastructure.

On or about the year 1978, the Aggies made an alliance with Converse for equipment. From that time until the mid 1980's, they were known as the Converse Aggies. But low and behold, core Aggies Angel Martinez and Jim Van Dine were busy climbing the corporate ranks at Reebok. When the time was right, they made their play and in the bloodless coup of the century, converted the Aggies from a basketball team to a set of finely tuned cheetahs known throughout the land as the Reebok Aggie Running Club.

Also, on or about 1978, the Aggie Centipede was born of late night road tripping and sleep deprivation. Some say it was Steve White & Doug Peck, others say it was Peanut & Angel, and nobody says it was Sweeney & Tuna, that came up with the original idea to link 13 brothers together to run the world's craziest run, the Bay to Breakers. Be that as it may, The Aggie centipede is now world infamous, with stories on the event reaching Runner's World, Sports Illustrated and the Wall Street Journal.

The Club now numbers over 200 elite and social members, men & women. A new crowd of able bodies toe the line at Bay to Breakers every year. The Aggies compete at USA Cross Country national championships as well as the USA Outdoor Track & Field national championships. And individuals have done great things including - Mark Conover, Danny Gonzalez, Melissa Martel and Jamey Harris to name a few.